Dante smiled to himself as he sat in the customized room of the safehouse. It had this technology that matched the room to the person’s liking. The room became like home. In truth, he had fallen for her the moment he had met her, but he had not realized how he felt until their first mission together as partners. After that, they would exchange flirty comments in the office, but both were too scared to start a relationship.

He was oddly nervous as he knocked at her door to deliver some food to her and hangout. They knew the dangers of interacting, especially when they were both in hiding in safehouses mere miles away from each other.

“Room service,” said Dante.

“You could have called before you were coming,” said Astrid as she opened the door. “Is that Chinese takeout food?”

“From your favorite restaurant,” said Dante. He watched her take out the boxes from the paper bag sneaking a look at the computer that was still running the decryption program. “Still working on that hard drive?”

“Mmhmm.” Astrid hummed in agreement. “I’ve never seen a hard drive that is this protected except maybe ours back at headquarters and the ones we have back at Knightwatch.”

Dante stuffed noodles in his mouth before speaking. His eyes lingering on the bags under her eyes for a couple of minutes before he went back to eating.

“You don’t look like you have been sleeping well,” said Dante.

“No… not with the nightmares, better that I stay productive.”

“Makes sense,” said Dante.

“So, you have been staying awake based only on coffee?” asked Dante. “You know, your addiction with coffee is bad for you. You need sleep, Ash.”

“You may make fun of my addiction with caffeine and coffee, but you are just as bad with sugar, you and Matt,” said Astrid. “I can’t keep chocolate or any other form of sugar on me anymore or I have to hide it.”

“You have candy?” asked Dante.

“No,” said Astrid. “And even if I did, I would not tell you where I hid it. Remember the last time you had a sugar high… I am not dealing with that again.”

The computer beeped. She had accessed the contents of the hard drive. She scrolled through the data until she got thousands and thousands of files.

“I’m going to need more coffee,” said Astrid.

“Oh… no, you don’t,” said Dante. “No more coffee for you, Ash. You are getting some sleep and then we can go through these files.”

“I can’t sleep… I told you,” said Astrid.

“You want me to lay next to you,” said Dante. “It might help go to sleep.”

“I don’t want to keep you up because of my insomnia problems,” said Astrid as she looked at him. “Does not seem fair. It’s part of the reason I don’t like hospitals… I don’t like being alone.”

“I’ll be right next to you, but you need to get some decent sleep,” said Dante.

“Okay,” said Astrid. “I will try to get some sleep.”

He waited outside in her bedroom as she changed into her night gown. This was their last night in hiding because from tomorrow they would have to be back at base and start planning some defense against Nox and the Circle. He smiled. She looked cute in her pajamas.

“What?” asked Astrid.

“Nothing. You look cute in your pajamas,” said Dante. “Have you always worn those?”

“Does it matter?” asked Astrid as she massaged her forehead tiredly. “I will be back in a couple of minutes. Don’t touch anything.”

He simply could not resist himself though. He found a sketchpad on her bedside table with a black cover, but the temptation was too big. There were drawings of the old Gatlon with monuments and statues. There was some abstract art. Then, there was a picture of someone… wait, was that him?

“I thought I told you not to touch anything,” said Astrid.

“Is this me?” asked Dante.

Astrid nodded as she down two pills. “Yeah. Though, that piece is from two months ago.”

“You drew me?”

“I was thinking about you,” said Astrid. “Drawing and art helps me clear my mind and think better. Can I have my sketchpad back?”

He handed her the sketchpad and Astrid put it in in her backpack. They were leaving their safehouses tomorrow to head back to headquarters.

“Umm… it’s okay, you should probably get some sleep too,” said Astrid. “I think I will be fine tonight.”

The next morning, he woke up on the couch to find Astrid in the kitchen making herself tea. So, she was right… she did not drink coffee all the time.

“You are looking really well rested,” said Dante.

“Thanks to you,” said Astrid as she raised the teacup to her lips and sipped the warm liquid. “The nightmares will come but at least now I have you to talk to.”

“Who did you talk to before?” asked Dante.

“My cousin, Alex. It’s the cousin I helped get out of MI6 but then he told me that he was too involved and now is one of Knightwatch’s international agents,” said Astrid as she sipped the tea. “Since he is out of the country most of the time, he would be awake at whatever unholy hour I decided to call him up. He was more than willing to just listen.”

“He must be a great guy,” said Dante as he skewered a blueberry with his fork and took a bite. “Are all your families spies or secret agents?”

“You two would get along,” said Astrid as she skewered a melon from the plate and took ate it. “Though, last I met him he was in Montrovia. Only the director knows where he is now. Yeah, most are secret agents.”

“Hmm… so any idea where our trials are going to be?” asked Dante.

“The Crystal Caves in Ireland,” said Astrid. “I think I have vague memories from my childhood when my stepparents took me there.”

“You sure you don’t want to make this trek with anyone else?” asked Dante.

“No one better I would do it with,” said Astrid.